When
Take Me Somewhere infiltrated Glasgow’s arts venues last year, the pilot
edition of this new festival of experimental theatre and performance took with
it the spirit of the Arches. This new entity was founded by Jackie Wylie, the
former artistic director of the labyrinthine arts lab and club space which,
situated beside and beneath Central Station, was underground in every way. When
the Arches closed in 2015 after Glasgow Licensing Board turned down the venue’s
application for a late license following advice from Police Scotland, its
absence left a damaging hole in the city’s artistic infrastructure.
Arriving
on the scene two years later, Take Me Somewhere was a reclaiming of the energy
which had driven the Arches, and made it one of the most significant arts
spaces in Europe. It was also a form of closure, as many of the tireless team
of individuals and pioneers who had developed their skills at the Arches
reunited to tie up loose ends in a way that was effectively getting the old
gang back together.
With
Wylie announced as the new artistic head of the National Theatre of Scotland as
Take Me Somewhere’s initial programme gathered steam, it was feared that this
new initiative might be a one-off. As the three-week programme of the second
Take Me Somewhere opens this week, such fears have mercifully proven to be
unfounded. Taking in regular venues including Tramway, the Tron, Platform and
CCA, the programme will also see work take place I the Art School, the
Panopticon Music Hall, the Mackintosh Cross Church and the Botanic Gardens.
Artists from Scotland include Cora Bissett, Peter McMaster, Eilidh MacAskill,
Rosana Cade and FK Alexander. Their work will sit alongside artists and
companies from Canada, Austria, Belgium, England, Lebanon and the USA.
An
in-tune with the times array of performative provocations will see the likes of
a feminist deconstruction of an iconic neo-classical ballet, an eleven-year old
boy in theatrical purgatory with Shakespeare’s son and an avant-garde journey
into LGBT liberation. There will be a seven metre scale model of the moon, and
what is described as a ‘non-binary, gender-queer, post-homo-hop rap artist who
believes that the art world is just one big scam for rich people”
With
support from Creative Scotland and Glasgow Life, this year’s Take Me Somewhere
is led jointly by artistic director LJ Findlay-Walsh and executive producer
Gillian Garrity. With Walsh the former arts producer of the Arches and
curatorial associate for the first Take Me Somewhere, and Garrity’s work as an
independent producer also seeing her work at the venue, both have come through
the Arches equivalent of the boot room. In terms of acting as a continuum of
that experience, Take Me Somewhere is effectively spreading its tentacles around
Glasgow in a way that seems to push boundaries even more.
“I
suppose what we’re wanting to do,” says Findlay-Walsh, “is to bring
international work that wouldn’t otherwise be seen here, and to have that work
seen alongside work from Scotland, so one interrogates the other. I think that’s
really important for artists coming from different countries to be able to experience
each other’s work in that way. There’s a lot of brilliant work from abroad
coming in, but there’s so much forward facing work on our own doorstep as well
that it’s really important that there’s a platform for both. I think Scotland
really stands its ground internationally in terms of experimental performance
work just now that it isn’t difficult to use that as our ignition point.
“At
the Arches we were able to follow artists from the spark of an idea to
developing it to fruition at the Behaviour festival. In terms of Take Me
Somewhere, we don’t have the capacity to do that with emerging artists, and are
working with more experienced practitioners, so we can bring in as much
experimental work of quality as we can.”
The
baton for emerging artists has already been picked up by the likes of
long-standing initiatives such as the Buzzcut festival, as well as platforms
developed by the likes of the National Theatre of Scotland under Walsh’s former
colleague Jackie Wylie’s tenure. With this in mind, Walsh isn’t worried about
any lack of activity that may eventually feed into Take Me Somewhere.
“I
don’t have any kind of formula to help decide what to put on at Take Me
Somewhere,” she says, “but it’s very exciting what’s going on in Scotland just
now.”
Highlights
of the first week of the festival include Violence, FK Alexander’s personal
meditation on the cruelty of love and the loneliness and desperation that stems
from it. Also running at Tramway is Hamnet, a hit of last year’s Dublin Theatre
Festival, in which the Dead Centre company put an eleven-year-old boy onstage
to play Shakespeare’s son. Dead Centre won a Herald Angel award for their
Edinburgh Festival Fringe run of their remarkable piece, Lippy. For one night
only, Florentina Holzinger presents Apollon Musagette, a deconstruction of George
Balanchine’s seminal ballet, which pretty much stamps it into the ground.
The
following week sees Rosana Cade and Eilidh MacAskill team up at the Art School
for Moot Moot, as the pair play doppelganger radio hosts Barry and Barry. Over
at the Britannia Panopticon, the patriarchy of Hamlet is challenged by Peter
McMaster in the King of Rags and Stitches. At the Tron, veteran drag turn David
Hoyle performs Diamond, in which he reflects on his personal journey through LGBT
liberation, taking in significant moments in LGBT history, including a look at
figures such as Alan Turing. These are just a few examples of the range of work
that Take Me Somewhere offers.
“It’s interesting what’s starting to happen,”
says Findlay-Walsh, “because a lot of artists from Scotland were inspired by
some of the work from Europe that came here. Now, in some instances, work from
Europe is being inspired by our artists, and that’s really exciting.”
While
Take Me Somewhere has expanded its horizons in every way this year, interesting
things are happening as well in the building that once housed the Arches. With
the site having lain empty up until recently, in February it opened up as
Platform food market, which hosts an array of independent food vendors. While
the days of the Arches as a pioneering arts venue may be done, to date, at
least, its new use has staved off fears that developers might swoop in to
attempt to transform the space into something ill-fitting the legacy of its
former use.
“I’m
delighted,” Findlay-Walsh says of the space’s transformation into Platform. “I
thought they were going to turn it into a car park, but if it can be used as an
independent outlet for some form of creativity, that’s great.”
Given
previous concerns that Take Me Somewhere might have been a one-off, this second
edition suggests that Walsh, Garrity and co have designs on it becoming a more
permanent fixture of Glasgow’s artistic calendar.
“Absolutely,”
says Findlay-Walsh. “We’re already in talks with various organisations about
possibly co-producing work next year, and I feel there’s a real appetite in the
city for artists to have the kind of platform that Take Me Somewhere can
provide. I think people are interested as well in seeing something that’s
started from scratch. So, yes. I think we’re here to stay.”
Take
Me Somewhere runs at various venues across Glasgow, May 16-June 4.
The Herald, May 15th 2018
ends
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